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The Man in the Black Suit
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Author | Stephen King |
|---|---|
| Country |  USA |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Horror |
| Released in | Six Stories, Everything's Eventual: 14 Dark Tales |
| Publisher | Philtrum Press |
| Media Type | Anthology |
| Released | 1995 |
The Man in the Black Suit is a short story by Stephen King. In 1995, it won the World Fantasy Award for Best Short Fiction. In 1997, it was published in King's anthology Six Stories. In 2002, it was published in the collection Everything's Eventual: 14 Dark Tales . It was adapted into a short film with the same title in 2004 by Nicholas Mariani.
The story tells of Gary, a nine year-old boy, whose brother had died not long ago. One day Gary goes out fishing and falls asleep. When he awakens, he discovers an orange-eyed man in a black three-piece suit looming over him. The man--whose body odor smells like burned match heads-- tells Gary terrible things: that his mother has died while he was away, and that the man intends to eat him. Gary does not believe at first, but soon realizes that this man is actually the devil, and makes his escape by throwing his caught fish at the stranger; he then runs off as the creature stays behind to eat the catch. The things the man said were false, but Gary is still haunted by the incident for the rest of his life.
Gary tells the story from his perspective as an old, terrified man. He is haunted by his belief that he only escaped from the devil by either pure luck or his own skill. At the end of the story, he is frightened by the possibility of death. Will he go to God, whom he has prayed to all his life? Or will the man in the Black Suit return to take him away, now that he is too old to run away from him again?